This disclosure generally relates to active material based seats for reshaping and/or reconfiguring the seat.
Adjustable lumbar supports have been known. These generally include a mechanical device to manipulate the lumbar support. It is also known to provide seats with vibrotactile devices and displacement devices to alert a driver of a potential impact event or to warn a driver when the vehicle drifts out of a designated lane. All of these systems utilize mechanical actuators such as solenoids, pistons, and the like that act in concert to provide the desired configuration. Other adjustable supports include the use of an air bladder. Conventional mechanical actuators are costly, their form factor (ratios of volume to created displacement and/or input energy to work output) is large, they have higher power consumption, and it is not a straightforward process to utilize their output to make conventional seats meet different occupant's needs when considering the wide variety of occupant sizes that must be comprehended in the design.
While the current systems can be adequate for their intended use, it is desirable to provide other systems that overcome some of the problems inherent with the use of mechanical actuators.